Tag: exploration

How better to celebrate the day after Valentine’s Day than with the discussion of WAR? I’ll let you in on a little secret, something I’m rather ashamed of: my knowledge of history is really lacking. I blame it on my schooling: basically, we studied the Romans, the Tudors, some Jurassic/dinosaur stuff… and that’s it. Seriously, I left school not knowing a thing about World War 1 and 2, or any contemporary political history. Oh, I forgot: we also studied the…

On a surprisingly regular basis I get asked the question: ‘What would your empire be like, Seb?’ It always makes me stop and think. Who told you I’m planning to be an emperor…? I don’t think I’ve told many people about my aspirations of world domination, but perhaps it’s the kind of thing that manifests and makes itself known in other ways. Maybe it’s the sparkly glint in my eye, or the grandiose sweep of my arms when discussing important issues…

Every day there are more of them. You look around and you’re sure there’s a few more than last time. One by one everyone’s becoming a geek. Eventually there’ll just be you and your infatuation with reality TV — everyone else will be happily geeking away. But what’s this? You want to become a geek? You don’t want to be the last one boozing and partying and subsisting away the best years of your life? ‘Let me on the band wagon!’…

Darkness. Enigma. Secret. Curiousity. Surprise. Paranormal. Superstition. Rapture. Riddle. Myth. Magic. Mystery. * * * The definition of mystery, though multi-faceted, is a good place to start: Anything that arouses curiosity or perplexes because it is unexplained, inexplicable, or secret. That [which] is not fully understood or that baffles or eludes understanding; an enigma. But it goes further. I’m not the only one that has noticed the prevalence of mysticism in contemporary civilisation: The skills, lore, or practices that are…

Recently I was contacted by a very nice Canadian chap called Lee. He writes for a big Internet blog and news source — the kind of site that has a million unique visitors a month — and he asked me if I’d like to write for them! Apparently, I’m a bit snarky. Apparently that’s what they want; someone that tells it like it is. Someone that isn’t afraid to step on a few toes. And that’s cool. I can do…

For as long as we’ve been human one resource has always been valued above all others: knowledge. The success and progression of civilisation is measured in just one way: the extent of our knowledge. We pride ourselves on how developed we are. How much more more civil we are compared to our barbaric ancestors. We sure have come a long way from the grunting, cave-dwelling proto-human. Guns. Medicine. Democracy, equality, liberty; these concepts, these inventions are fine examples of our…